In my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,322,396 there is disclosed and claimed a towing vehicle in which a pivoted saddle attached to a carrier member engages and supports the leading (in the towing direction) portion of the load. The carrier ascends a track provided by an inclined member rigidly secured to a stationary support carried by the towing vehicle bed or base. This lifting of the leading portion of the load occurs because of the winching in of a cable attached to the trailing portion, such as the rear axle, of a vehicle to be towed. While the pivotally mounted saddle, to a restricted degree, permitted acquisition of loads laterally misaligned with the towing vehicle, substantial maneuvering and positioning of the towing vehicle was required to rather closely align it with the load. Further, once the load had been acquired and the towing operation had begun, since the load accommodating structure was rigid and immobile, the towing cable tended to wear excessively when cornering with the load because of its angular relation to the accommodating sheaves.
The structure of the present invention remedies these difficulties by providing a pivotal mounting for the inclined member with its track on which the carrier and its saddle ascends when the load is acquired. The inclined member with its carrier and cable sheaves is pivoted about an axis parallel to the carrier member's longitudinal axis by a power element. This enables the apparatus to swing sideward to acquire more laterally displaced loads without excessive preliminary maneuvering of the towing vehicle. As the load is towed, the pivotal connection is permitted to float so that the inclined member can move pivotally as required while the vehicle and load are cornered, thus permitting the sheaves, carried by the inclined member, to align themselves with the cable and excessive wear or fracturing of the cable is avoided.